Werkself secure 3-2 win in Bremen

Head coach Xabi Alonso opted to play a 3-4-2-1 formation. The Spaniard made five changes from the line-up in the 2-0 home win in the Europa League Round of 16 first leg: Piero Hincapie moved from the left flank into the back three in place of Edmond Tapsoba with Mitchel Bakker on the wing. Midfielders Exequiel Palacios and Robert Andrich returned to the starting eleven after serving one-match bans. Nadiem Amiri and Kerem Demirbay started on the bench. In attack, Amine Adli came in for Florian Wirtz who was rested and therefore not in the matchday squad. And Adam Hlozek replaced Sardar Azmoun up front.

werder Bremen score, Bayer 04 strike back

Both teams made a quiet start to the game with the 41,000 spectators at the wohninvest Weserstadion witnessing an evenly balanced opening to the game. The hosts primarily sought to press high. However, the first good moves were made by the visitors – above all down the right side with the duo of Moussa Diaby and Amine Adli. Diaby fired the first warning shot on five minutes when the Werkself number 19 raced towards the penalty area and looked to pick out Adli. But Diaby's diagonal ball was intercepted by the Bremen keeper Jiri Pavlenka. The first Leverkusen shot of the game came six minutes later – also set up by Diaby – from Adli: The Frenchman hit the ball from a tight angle high over the hosts' net. On 15 minutes, Diaby again ran down the right flank and he saw his fellow countrymen Adli. The latter again tried to shoot from a tight angle but only hit the side netting.

The game picked up as time went on. Up to that point, the Green and Whites had posed little threat. But that changed on the half-hour mark: Ducksch was in a one-on-one with Lukas Hradecky from a long ball but his effort went wide of the target (28'). But the second effort ended in a goal: Good work by Jens Stage ended with the ball coming to Ducksch. The striker powered his shot into the net to give Werder a 1-0 lead (30'). But Leverkusen provided a swift response.

First, Adam Hlozek was unmarked and he had a chance to level from 15 yards out but his effort went past the far post (33'). Just a minute later, Jeremie Frimpong crossed from the right, Diaby failed to connect but the ball landed up with Mitchel Bakker in line with far post. The Dutchman levelled with a fierce shot to make it 1-1. The Black and Reds appeared to be gaining a better foothold in the game and several times threatened Pavlenka's goal. But the score did not change with the two sides going into the half-time break level at 1-1.

Frimpong turns game round, FülLkrug pulls a goal back

The Alonso team were on their toes at the start of the second half and directly pressed in search of the lead – and they were rewarded. An individual effort on the edge of the box ended with Frimpong shooting. The Werder Bremen central defender Niklas Stark deflected the ball past the keeper to give Bayer 04 a deserved 2-1 lead (56').

Leverkusen remained on the front foot after taking the lead. The impressive Bakker tried another shot from range on 63 minutes but failed to test the keeper. The biggest chance for the hosts in the second half came from Niklas Füllkrug with a shot to the near post but Hradecky made an impressive save (65'). The game then seemed to settle down and both sides were unable to pose a positive threat. But the match came to life again in the final ten minutes.

With 83 minutes on the clock, a cross from Adli was deflected but Hlozek managed to get to the ball. The Czech turned in a fine header to make it 3-1. With four minutes of the 90 to play, Füllkrug converted a penalty after a handball by Hincapie for the final score of 3-2. Not much happened after that with the Werkself now unbeaten in five games across all competitions and rounding off a busy week with a win.

round of 16 second leg in Budapest

After a day off on Monday, the Werkself will have two closed training sessions in Leverkusen on Tuesday and Wednesday before setting off for Budapest. Bayer 04 are in the Hungarian capital for the Round of 16 second leg in the Europa League on Thursday 16 March. The match against Ferencváros at the Puskás Aréna kicks off at 21.00 CET.

Match stats:

Werder Bremen: Pavlenka – Pieper, Stark, Veljkovic – Stage (Philipp 69'), Gruev (Dinkci 76'), Schmidt – Weiser, Jung (Buchanan 84') – Füllkrug, Ducksch

Bayer 04: Hradecky – Kossounou, Tah, Hincapie – Frimpong (Tapsoba 62'), Palacios, Andrich, Bakker – Diaby (Amiri 74’), Adli (Sinkgraven 88’)– Hlozek (Azmoun 88’)

Goals: 1-0 Ducksch (30’), 1-1 Bakker (34’), 1-2 Frimpong (56’), 1-3 Hlozek (83’), 2-3 Füllkrug (86’)

Booked: Stark, Schmidt – Kossounou

Referee: Deniz Aytekin (Oberasbach)

Attendance: 41,000 (sold out) at the wohninvest Weserstadion